Veteran Ann Black ‘removed’ from left slate for NEC as 3 new names appear

NEC veteran Ann Black – who was elected to Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) with the highest vote in 2016 as a member of the left-wing ‘grassroots alliance’ ‘slate’ – has not been included on the left slate for the NEC elections later this year.

Ann Black

Ms Black was criticised by some left-wing activists for her support for decisions considered not in the interests of the Labour left and the party leadership they support. She has been criticised for allegedly supporting the increase in the ‘registered supporter’ fee for the 2016 leadership election and for supporting the exclusion of a large number of members from the vote by means of a ‘freeze date’, although Labour sources tell the SKWAWKBOX that she argued for a much shorter freeze date than was eventually applied.

CLPD (Campaign for Labour Party Democracy), one of the influential organisations in the composition of the slate, voted by as tight a margin as possible – twenty votes to nineteen – not to support her inclusion. The decision within Momentum is believed to have been more clear-cut.

Ms Black, who to her credit has always championed transparency in NEC dealings and publishes a report of each meeting on her website, is understood to be intending to run as an independent.

The full left slate is believed to be:

Huda Elmi

Nav Mishra

Ann Henderson

Yasmin Darr*

Claudia Webbe*

Jon Lansman*

Rachael Graham*

Pete Willsman*

Darren Williams*

(* = existing NEC member)

Existing NEC members Christine Shawcroft and Rhea Wolfson, who were on the 2016 slate, are believed to be stepping down at the election.

New candidate Huda Elmi is a long-standing supporter of Jeremy Corbyn and appeared on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire programme in 2016 to defend his leadership as the infamous ‘chicken coup’ attempt to remove him was unfolding:

Nav Mishra was Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Hazel Grove in last year’s General Election. Ann Henderson is Assistant Secretary of the Scottish TUC.

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Overdue and welcomed. Never thought I’d see it happen. Just as Shawcroft gains an improved foothold she’s standing down. Why? Had enough? As for Wolfson have not heard a thing from her since she was elected so apparently no loss.